“I received in due time your letter through the hands
of Mr. Foss, and thank you for your
attention in answering my question so promptly. I was not a little
| 102 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
“I write to you—for there is no use of talking humbug—to ask you for a favourable critique, or a puff, or any other thing of the kind—the word being no matter—of a forthcoming novel at Blackwood’s, ‘Percy Mallory,’ as soon as convenient. It is by the author of ‘Pen Owen;’ who that is I do not know; but I guess, as I suppose so do you. Ebony may perhaps write you about it, for he is an indefatigable letter-writer; but at all events you will oblige me by giving it a favourable and early notice in your ‘Gazette.’ In return, I vow to you a hecatomb of puns, and shall sacrifice the English tongue without remorse as fillings for your columns.
